Dearest Companion
by RichardHusky
Summary: A Oneshot focusing on a particularly disturbing theory about what really lies inside of the innocent Weighted Companion Cube.


**Every once in awhile, like any bored fifteen year old, I decide to go on to the internet in the dead of night and watch creepy and disconcerting videos about urban legends, theories, rumors, and the like. Tonight, I came across a rather... unsettling theory, to say the least, about Portal's Companion Cube. I think that explaining it directly would be best suited for after reading. I know that I don't often do horror, but I hope that I serve the purpose that this served to me:**

**Stopping sleep from happening.**

**I can't exactly say happy reading, then, can I Wolfgang?**

* * *

_"The Vital Apparatus Vent will deliver a Weighted Companion Cube in three, two, one."_

Test Subject #396, Antony, looked to the ceiling. So far, his time at the Aperture Science and Enrichment Center was an engaging experience, but not one of abundant joy. He had been at the testing with portals for days without halt. He couldn't even remember the last time that he had eaten anything. Even at The Institution, they had always given him food. But, then again, they treated him like a small child, talked to him like he was a baby. They spoke to him in a hushed tone, as if he was a little puppy.

He had never really been fond of puppies. He had always liked cats. And parrots.

The Vital Apparatus Vent opened up wide, all four triangular fourths of the circular vent parting. Then, from the vent, dropped a medium sized box. It hit the ground with a light thump, but even the slight sound was enough to rouse Antony's fears. He hated loud noises, and light noises, and noises all together. They made him afraid. He jumped, startled, and backed up a few steps, dropping his Portal Gun to the floor.

_"This Weighted Companion Cube will accompany you through the test chamber. Please take care of it."_

Antony cocked his head in confusion. It was like a normal Aperture Science storage crate, but different. It had little pink hearts on the center of its sides. He took a step towards it. Then another. Soon, he stood over it. He put his hands together, fingertip touching fingertip, and then scratched his head. He reached down with caution and poked it. Nothing happened.

_"The symptoms most commonly produced by Enrichment Center testing are superstition, perceiving inanimate objects as alive, and hallucinations."_

Antony looked up to the noise of the voice. It was that robot lady. She was nice. Nicer than the nurses from The Institution. They only acted nice. But he knew what they were up to. Once, he caught one of them trying to sneak that medication into his food. They were crafty, those nurses. But the robot lady was different. She never made him take any medication. The medication made him sleep. But he wasn't tired. He couldn't remember the robot lady's name, but he wanted to thank her for not making him sleep when he didn't want to.

_"The Enrichment Center reminds you that the Weighted Companion Cube will never threaten to stab you and, in fact, cannot speak." _She said. _"__In the event that the weighted companion cube does speak, the Enrichment Center urges you to disregard its advice."_

Antony did not hear what the robot lady said past "hallucinations". Instead, he touched the cube. He patted and poked it in every spot, and he did it with vigor, with precision. He made sure to poke the very center of every center heart, so that he would not be bothered that he didn't. He liked to feel things. But something about this cube intrigued him, aside from how it felt. It didn't feel like an object... at least not in the tangible sense.

_"Please recover your Handheld Portal Device from the floor. We at Aperture Science prefer to keep equipment in one-hundred percent working condition, instead of broken and worthless. It really is better that way."_

Antony looked behind himself. He had almost forgotten about the portal gun. He was so interested in the cube that he had nearly forgotten of the single most important piece of technology that had gotten him as far as he got. He didn't like using the portal gun. It reminded him of a real gun. He didn't like guns, no, not one bit. He felt nauseous when he walked through the portals, too. Still, he picked the gun back up and cradled it.

He wasn't sure of what to do after that. The robot lady said that the Weighted Companion Cube would accompany him. He decided that it would be prudent to take the cube with him.

He walked up to the cube and tried to lift it up. With only one arm, however, it didn't lift very much at all. He tried pushing it. It nudged a foot forward, but that was all. He decided that it was probably too heavy to carry with his arms. That made him sad. He wanted to touch it some more.

He aimed the portal gun at the cube, despite the fact that he never liked guns, and pulled both triggers, holding them down. The Weighted Companion Cube lifted from the ground and hovered directly in the front of the gun. It was still amazing to him that the portal gun could do things like this. But he was much more interested in the cube.

With the cube in front of him, Antony stepped forward slowly. He walked with his tip toes extended to the floor. And he kept walking forward.

* * *

It had been at least four hours since he had entered this particular test room, but Antony wasn't counting. In fact, Antony was sleeping. The nice robot lady didn't bother him when he slept.

Next to Antony sat the Weighted Companion Cube. He still didn't understand what was so intriguing about the cube, but he really, really wanted to find out. Before he had given up and slept, he had poked and prodded the cube in every spot at least three times, trying to find out how to open it, to see what was inside of the cube. Blame it on human curiosity, but Antony cared more about the cube's contents than the actual testing.

And so, Antony sat, sleeping like a baby.

Something was bothering him in his deep sleep, however. He couldn't tell what it was, but it was definitely some sort of noise. Like someone was reaching out to him.

_H__elp me._

Antony jerked awake. He was sweating. He looked over to the Weighted Companion Cube. It hadn't moved from the spot it was in, nor had anything else in the room nudged an inch. Well, except for the moving platforms, nothing moved an inch.

He could hear a light humming noise. He couldn't tell where it was coming from (He had never really been good at locating sounds), but it was a catchy tune. For a moment, he expected the robot lady to be humming, but he realized that it was too light of a noise for that to be the case.

_Hum._

_Hum-um um hum hum._

_Hum hum hum-um hum hum hum._

_Hum-um um hum hum._

As soon as Antony focused, he couldn't hear the humming anymore. But it was definitely coming from somewhere nearby. He stood up and looked around. He wasn't very good at locating noises. The humming started again, this time a little bit louder.

_Hum._

_Hum-um um hum hum._

_Hum hum hum-um hum hum hum._

_Hum-um um hum hum._

Antony was very... confused. He usually didn't enjoy abrupt noises, but the tune was calming. But where was it coming from?

Again, just as he began to listen closer, it stopped.

... And the humming started back up once again. This time, much louder than before.

**_Hum._**

**_Hum-um um hum hum._**

**_Hum hum hum-um hum hum hum._**

**_Hum-um um hum hum._**

Antony turned back around. It was coming from behind him, that much he could tell. And when he turned, he realized what direction it was coming from.

The humming was coming from the Weighted Companion Cube.

Curious, just as curious as he had been before, if not even more, Antony took a light step forward. He was a tiny little bit frightened, but the bright florescent light that washed over the room helped calm him. And as he walked closer to the cube, lay his hands on its grey and white surface, he felt something. A light vibration, almost as if something was tapping on it from within.

Antony was more intrigued than ever to figure out what was inside of the Weighted Companion Cube. He put his fingers in between one of the many indents in the club's top and pulled, but nothing budged. In fact, Antony pulled so hard that he ended up falling to the floor.

_"Please refrain from dismantling the Aperture Science Weighted Companion Cube, or any Aperture Science testing equipment. You will probably just end up hurting yourself."_

Antony sat up. He disregarded the robot lady's advice. He wanted to know what was inside.

He walked back over to the cube and rapped on the side with his knuckles. A moment of silence passed.

Then, in the exact soot that he had knocked on, a little knock came from within. Antony placed his ear to the top of the Weighted Companion Cube and listened. Inside, he could hear a light tapping, and the humming again. He knocked on the side again, his ear still to the top of the cube. No response this time. He knocked again.

_Hello__?_

Antony backed up in fright. He had distinctly heard a voice.

_"The Enrichment Center reminds you that the Weighted Companion Cube cannot speak. Do not be alarmed by any noises or voices coming from inside of the Weighted Companion Cube, they are more than likely just your imagination."_

_Do not listen. I am real._

Antony didn't know what to do. He backed up into the wall behind him and sat down, holding his head. He used to hear voices a lot, back at the Institution. That was why they gave him the medication. But he didn't like the medication, and he didn't like the voices. Ever since he had come to the Aperture Science and Enrichment Center, however, he needn't deal with either. But if the voices were coming back, he didn't know what to do. They told him to do things that he didn't want to do.

_Don't believe her. She's not what she appears to be._

Antony just sat, clutching his ears with his hands, trying to get the voices to stop.

He sat there for a very long time.

* * *

_Somewhere else..._

"Test Subject #396 isn't completing his tests."

"Completing? Subject #396 is not even _participating_. Surely there are bountiful other candidates worthy of-"

"I wish to see his final outcome."

"But-"

"Enough."

* * *

For several hours, Antony sat in his corner, muttering scared whispers in the hopes that the voices weren't coming back. But he knew that they weren't after a little while. He just wanted to be sure.

The Weighted Companion Cube, once an object of his curiosity, was now an unknown and scary thing to Antony. His desire to find out what was inside of the cube was drowned by fear.

"Is... is... any-anyone th-th-there?" Antony asked. His stutter wasn't of fear, although that certainly didn't help. He had been born with that stutter.

_ Don't let her win._

There it was again. The scary cube, which actually looked very friendly, was talking again. It had to be the cube. There was no other explanation.

_Don't let her win._

Don't let her win?

_Don't let her win._

Antony looked up to the cube. It had stayed one hundred percent still the entire time.

He couldn't let the cube mess with him. It was just an object. For all he knew, he was hallucinating. Dehydration will do that to you. But it... the voice... it sounded so vivid. So real.

He couldn't let the cube get the best of him. Antony got up and walked to the other side of the room. When he got to the other side, however, he could still hear the whispers.

_Don't let her win._

He plugged his ears with his fingers. The voice was muffled, but he could still just about hear it.

_Don't let her win._

The chant echoed in his head like a cymbal. He didn't like cymbals. They were loud.

He was confused, and frightened, and he couldn't handle it. He just couldn't do it.

_Don't let her win._

__Don't let her win.__

**__Don't let her win.__**

**__DON'T LET HER WIN.__**

Antony, on his last string, screamed for the voices to stop. He hit the wall with his fists and he hit his head with his open hands. But the voices wouldn't get out. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to do.

He knew what to do.

Antony decided that, in order to make the voices stop, he would have to make sure that he couldn't hear them.

He had to make sure that he never heard them ever again.

* * *

"A shame. He failed."

"I told you that he was worthless."

"Prep him."

* * *

Antony woke up in a very dark place. He couldn't see. At all. He burned all over, especially around his neck and back. He was curled up into a ball. He tried to stretch his legs, but they wouldn't move.

He was a little scared. But then, he realized something.

He couldn't hear the voices anymore. That made him feel better.

Suddenly, he could feel himself falling. He hit his head. He was still barely able to move. He couldn't hear anything.

He decided that it was likely just a new test. A replacement for the one he had tried to fail. At least there was no Weighted Companion Cube. But nothing was happening. Nothing at all. What would he do to pass the time? Tap his foot? Count?

He began to hum. He didn't know very many songs, so he decided to just sit and hum the tune he had heard before.

_Hum._

_Hum-um um hum hum._

_Hum hum hum-um hum hum hum._

_Hum-um um hum hum._

Suddenly, there was a knock above him. Antony looked up.

"Hello?"

* * *

**Alright. Let's talk about this.**

**The theory that this Oneshot is based off of is a relatively simple one, although I'm not entirely sure how well I explained it in the actual story.**

**In the very first Portal, when you drop the Weighted Companion Cube into the incinerator, you unlock an achievement; Fratricide. The definition of the word fratricide is the killing of one's brother or sibling. This simple name led some players to believe they were burning something more than just a cube with a few hearts on it. They were burning a brother, a sibling. **

**Note, in the Aperture Science laboratories, there are thousands of test subjects, at least ten thousand. They live in close proximity to one another, and, unofficially, are related through the fact that they take part in Aperture Science testing. So some creepy messed up person decided to ponder what was done with the dead and "failed" subjects. Their conclusion? The Aperture Science and Enrichment Center stores the corpses and not-so-corpses inside of the Weighted Companion Cubes.**

**Antony, for everyone's information, is completely OC. Aperture gets some of their test subjects from Aperture-owned mental facilities, and it is implied that Antony is a young man with schizophrenia that, art one point in the past, was housed at one of these mental facilities. The "voices" that he references so often that "told him to do things that he didn't want to do" are his schizophrenic hallucinations. The voices emanating from the cube, however, are not. He cannot differentiate, thus resulting in his choice to attempt suicide in order to make the voices stop. He tries jumping into the acid that fills many of the rooms, but his body, unconscious from the pain, is recovered and prepped to be inserted into a cube.**

**I'm not going to explain the whole theory in here, but it definitely is one of my favorite theories about games, and it certainly makes me look at our best friend the Companion Cube entirely different.**

**Seriously, just Google "dead bodies in companion cube", and you will get so much more clarity.**

**Have a nice day, Wolfgang.**

**~ Husky**


End file.
